New Delphi and C++ Builder Roadmap promises Linux server support

Embarcadero has published a new roadmap explaining what to expect in forthcoming editions of its RAD Studio suite, including Delphi and C++ Builder.

The company has been acquired by IDERA though the Embarcadero brand is to continue under the new ownership.

The roadmap covers two “development tracks”, though it is not completely clear what that means. One is described as the “Spring development track” which suggests a release in April, 12 months after RAD Studio XE8. However, the post adds that “The team is working the following features that will be included in 2016 releases,” raising the possibility that some features in this track may come later, perhaps in the scheduled summer update.

The Spring track, to be called “Berlin”, seems to be mainly a tidying-up exercise in any case, with features including Bluetooth LE support for Windows 10, DirectX 12 support, native support for Utf8String on all platforms (you mean it does not have this already?) and enhancements to the FireMonkey cross-platform framework.

“Spring” also offers C++ CLANG 3.3 on all platforms.

The second development track “will deliver a Fall release”, to be known as “Tokyo”, following the pattern of recent years where RAD Studio has two major updates every year. The Fall track is more interesting, and includes support for Delphi and C++ Builder on Linux Server, as well as “Linux platform support for console apps with IoT support.” I guess non-GUI Linux is the common thread here.

The IDE will remain on Windows, with cross-compilation for Linux. Initially supported distributions are Ubuntu Server and RedHat Enterprise, though further distributions will be added “as demand dictates”.

It is good to see Linux support back in Delphi. I remember Borland Kylix (2001-2003) well, but this was back in the days when desktop Linux looked like more of a thing.

The feature-list for Tokyo also includes Windows Centennial support. This is potentially big news. Centennial is a Microsoft project to deliver Windows desktop applications through the Windows Store, using application virtualisation based on the existing App-V technology to remove dependency issues. You can expect to hear more about Centennial at Microsoft’s Build conference at the end of March; it was covered at last year’s Build but we have not heard much more about it since.

Embarcadero is also promising a new installer for RAD Studio, based on its GetIt technology, which will reduce installation time and give more flexibility in selecting features. This would be welcome; I never look forward to installing RAD Studio as it tends to be a time-consuming process. It would also be good if it messed less with system environmental variables, though I do not know if this is on the cards. The new installer will comes in two phases, phase 1 in Berlin and phase 2 in Tokyo.

My own view is that two major releases a year is one too many, so I would prefer if Embarcadero scrapped Berlin and went straight to Tokyo.

This has been a source of complain from many customers, and rightfully so for those on Windows/VCL, but we needed to move fast on mobile platform adoption. As we are converting our business to an Update Subscription model, we’ll be able to deliver significant platform updates within the same release. So the plan going forward is to move back to a yearly release.

This decision was taken after the acquisition by Idera and with the development process already ongoing, so we decided to still go for 2 releases in 2016. It is extremely important for our customers and trial users to move to a better install experience, we really preferred not to delay this new installer another 6 months.

As a Linux developer, another tool for serverside development is the last thing I need. There are so many great solutions available (Go, Mono, Java, Freepascal, C++, Dart, Node, Swift, Python, Ruby, Elixir, …) and there is absolutely no need for another one.

On the other hand, developing for Android currently sucks big time. Embarcadero has already a headstart on this, now they should concentrate their skimpy resources on making the tool better.

They are scenario where Delphi is the best solution, especially if you are developing Software for sale for multiple platforms with the same code base. A review of the licensing model of all the development tools/database solution available free of charge or on a commercial basis would be necessary to be fair. For example Qt Creator is free only for noncommercial use. Out of the box you do not have Charting capabilities.
With Delphi you can develop client and deploy them free of charge and you have most thing out of the box. You can deploy on Apple Store or Google Play, and with the support of the Centennial Project, it will be possible to target the Windows store.
Up to now Delphi was strong on the client side because it is easy to design a user Interface and to connect to database. For me Delphi was rather weak with for IoT development because it was not possible to target Linux. System based on linux is very cheap (Rasperry Pi zero for 5 Euros). For IoT project price mater. For IoT microserver running a lightweight operating system is key. Micro sever can be written easily with Delph. This year it will be possible to develop micro-sever application with Delphi running on the Linux operating system. That is a very important step forward.

IoT, Android and all other adversed features are absolutely useless without linux support! How many IOT device you can point out with windows, and how many people using them. EMB is promising linux desktop every year, but this year our company just changed the platform. Even .NET probably will linux native compiling before EMB, and when that happens i don`t know any other reason to not use them. + Open source. At least we will not giving money for a buggy IDE with lack of basic features. Sorry that my opinion is agressive, but this is the reality.